Reversal
by EK
Summary: Oneshot in 2 parts. When before the Kanna attacks, Kyuzo is polite and nice, Heihachi is highstrung and raging, and everyone else doesn't know why...what else can go wrong? Almost full cast.
1. Chapter 1

This was created because of a dare from CalReflector for a story based on a theme he gave. I hope you like it, sir. Constructed during the finals season. (Some of my better ideas were formulated during exam weeks, with all that caffeine and adrenalin going through me needing an outlet.)

A few disclaimers. S7 will never be mine. I only own an S7 fansite. I like Kyuzo only to the same degree I like Kanbei-sama. I apologize, but I warn that in this story I shall be cruel to the Red Jacket. I am an incurable Heihachi fan (it's called "the episode 25 syndrome"), and I also like Roji-san a lot. Just so you all know where I stand.

The events in this story occur roughly around episode 11.

……………………………

The sun had risen on Kanna village.

Shimada Kanbei was already awake. So were his right and left-hand men. They were waiting for their chief informant, who was running a bit late already. The informant had promised to be back before sunrise. The leader of the group of seven was starting to get worried. He tried to keep himself occupied by opening up the map of the village and thinking once again about where to best place fortifications. The right hand took up a post in front of the hut and took out his binoculars. The left hand posted himself at the back of the hut with a rice ball.

Both eventually found the informant walking slowly through the center path. He was….strolling…looking up at the blue sky and at the green fields as he walked closer to Gisaku's hut. He approached one of the men, and bowed to him with a strange, glad smile. "Good morning. I have returned."

"Looks that way," Gorobei grinned back. "Let's go in, Kyuzo-dono."

The three samurai entered the hut, and sat round the map Kanbei had on the floor. "What news?" he asked.

"Well, the footpath to Gisaku's hut is quite a scenic route," Kyuzo replied. "I have not seen a place so picturesque as this since a few years ago. I also found that there are plenty of wonderful songbirds in the forest here..."

"Kyuzo-dono?" Gorobei interrupted. "What about your mission?"

"Let's see….A general evaluation of the area around the village and the fields, I think it was…"

"Yes….what did you find?"

"Is that what you want to know?"

"YES!" Gorobei was getting exasperated.

"Oh. My apologies," the yellow-haired samurai said, very chipper, and began pointing at the map. "It's likely that the main force will come from the west through the bridge, and then another group would be coming from the north. I recommend that the crossbow be placed facing the bridge, where it can be hidden at least at ground level by the trees near the cliff. The effective distance between the cliff, the end of the bridge, to the most likely target is 5 miles, at least. The gearhead would be wise to compute for that length. As for the fortifications. From my vantage point the ones being built to the east are sufficient, but the ones to the north and west have to be strengthened even more. That would be all."

"Impressive, Kyuzo," Kanbei said with a short nod. "We'll take what you said into consideration."

The other two samurai with him did not know what to think. A whole paragraph out of KYUZO?

The samurai in the red trenchcoat bowed.

And smiled.

"Now, I swear, something is wrong…." Shichiroji whispered to Gorobei. The other sweatdropped but agreed.

"Did you encounter any problems?" Kanbei asked.

Another ranting paragraph, from a man who does not rant. "I think they're underestimating our capabilities. There is still no clear sign of the enemy yet. Nonetheless, I have encountered a few spies sent in advance to check what they have been doing. I have dealt with almost all of them, though. One of them got away before I could reach him. It was a shame…."

This, even Kanbei noticed was unusual. "Thank you, you have done more than enough," he said. "Go and rest."

"I shall be alright," Kyuzo replied. "I think I'll go….take a walk for a while…." And he did walk out, in mid-sentence.

The three samurai looked at each other.

…………………………

The samurai in red who always ignored everyone else, was now bowing to anyone he passed, greeting them good morning. Kanna village had noticed the sudden change.

He ran into Kirara in the village square with the other young women. He stopped for a moment in front of her, and the cheerful gossip among the assembled group suddenly stopped as well.

"It is good to see you laughing and enjoying yourself," he said with a bow. "You look prettier that way."

Kirara felt her face grow as red as the man's trenchcoat, while she said, "Um, thank you, Kyuzo-sama."

He continued walking past the young ladies like nothing happened. The girls were now nudging and teasing Kirara.

At a rather deserted area just beyond the houses, Katsushiro was practicing his drills, and placing all of his fiery energy into his swings.

"You're doing it wrong," he interrupted.

"Oh, Kyuzo-dono!" the boy greeted him with a bow. "But what do you mean, I am doing it wrong?"

He came closer, and felt Katsushiro's grip on the sword. "As I thought. Your grip is too tight. The sword cannot move as quickly that way. Loosen your hold a bit, and let your wrist move a bit more."

As Kyuzo looked on, Katsushiro relaxed his hold a bit as he continued his drills. The young man did notice that his swings were now smoother than earlier. "Awesome! Thank you so much, Kyuzo-dono!"

"My pleasure," then he went on, again, like nothing happened.

He walked a little deeper into the woods, and saw Kikuchiyo practicing drills as well with his large sword. In frustration at a missed set of swings, the mecha samurai activated the chainsaw mechanism of the sword and swung at a tree, felling it.

He walked closer until he was only two feet away from Kikuchiyo, and looked up at the large, heavy sword. Just stared at it with a slightly open mouth.

"What are YOU looking at?" Kikuchiyo puffed.

"Impressive," he said.

"What is?"

"The sword. A combination of sharp cutting edge and a chainsaw. The first time I have fully observed it. The maintenance of the instrument is quite fine as well."

Of course the mecha samurai was elated. "I knew it. You have good taste!"

"Always have," the samurai in the trenchcoat grinned slightly before walking off again.

………………………………………………

By that afternoon, the whole village and all six samurai were wondering among themselves what was happening to Kyuzo. Was it something he ate or drank? Was it someone he met that night during the mission? Most importantly: Was he staying like this, for good?

Heihachi spent the early afternoon with Shichiroji, at the north end of the village. They planned where to place cranes and carriers. The taller samurai explained that he would need this much cargo hauled around, while the smaller one listened and drew up calculations and drafts.

It was during their walk around the clearing when they both noticed Kyuzo walk by through the middle of the clearing. He looked around the area, then up at the sky, then down at the trees below the hill.

Heihachi had been told about the red samurai's suggestions that morning, and ran to him. "Ah, Kyuzo-dono!" he called out. "I was told you had a few things to say about the crossbow?"

"Good day to you," Kyuzo bowed slightly and kept walking.

The mechanic caught up with him. "Yes, good day as well, now about the crossbow?"

"Nice weather we are having," the yellow-haired samurai replied and continued walking away, as if he had not seen the shorter samurai. He walked on beyond the clearing back in the direction of the village square.

Shichiroji came closer to Heihachi. "He's been like that all day, greeting everyone, even smiling. Highly unusual, but I'm glad he's starting to be friendlier."

"Something is not right," Heihachi rubbed his chin.

"Of course, something isn't right!" Shichiroji patted him on the back. "Kyuzo-dono is acting like a normal human being! Why are you complaining?"

"No, no, Shichi-san, you don't get it," the redhaired samurai said. "Look at his eyes."

The blonde one did, and scratched his head. "So?"

"They're glassy, blank, spacey, don't you see, Shichi-san? Kyuzo-dono is always focused, calculating, yes? But not right now."

Shichiroji looked again. The mechanic was right. Their associate in the red trenchcoat seemed like he was walking on air. "So, then…."

Heihachi frowned and looked down at the ground for a few moments. When he looked up again, his eyes were fierce. "Find the girls for me." He clenched his teeth.

"Pardon?"

The mechanic was very frightening to behold now. "Get me Kirara and Komachi!"

"Oi, oi, what in the world got into YOU?" Shichiroji asked and tried to pat him again to calm down. "And here you're telling me about Kyuzo…."

"Shichi-san, don't argue with me. Get me Kirara and Komachi!"

"Fine, fine, I'm going!" and Shichiroji began to stroll away as he scratched his head.

"Step on it!" the other snapped.

"Yes, sir," Shichiroji drawled, but did start running. "Sheesh…."

The blonde samurai took half an hour to round up Kirara from the priestess' house, and Komachi with Okara and Kikuchiyo from Rikichi's house. All of them found Heihachi seated in the same place Shichiroji left him, sketching furiously.

"Too slow, Shichi-san, too slow!" Heihachi complained as he looked up at them.

"WHAT? Do you think Komachi is easy to find?" Shichiroji griped, almost ready to punch the mechanic into the next day.

"Alright, you two, what in the world is this about?" Kikuchiyo interrupted.

Heihachi tore out the paper he was sketching on and thrust it at Komachi. "Do you have this plant here?"

The little girl peered at the drawing. "Hai, desu, in those woods."

The mechanic looked at Kirara. "How much of this plant is needed for a decoction?"

Kirara was still confused. "Well, it depends…."

"How much? Hurry!"

"Two bunches should be enough, but why?"

Heihachi glared at everyone surrounding him. "Kirara-dono, go get whatever you need to make a decoction, and go to Gisaku-dono's house." He pointed at the little girls and Kikuchiyo, as he gave Komachi the paper. "You three get as much as you can of this. Then go to Gisaku-dono's house. You all have to be there in less than an hour. Get going!"

All four people gave a collective "Huh?".

The mechanic was close to exploding at them. "No time to explain! GO!"

So they went.

That left Shichiroji with Heihachi. "Now, sir, could you please explain what has gotten into you?"

Heihachi was not listening, hastily sketching something else. He then showed it to Shichiroji. The picture was of a small dart, even smaller than the one found on Katsushiro a few weeks earlier. "Pin down Kyuzo-dono. I don't care how you do it. And find this thing."

"Pin down Kyuzo! Go against those 2 swords? Are you crazy?"

"Do you want him dead?" he snarled.

"No, of course not!"

"Then get going!"

………………………………………

Thank you for reading. Please proceed to chapter 2.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 of the oneshot. Thanks for still reading.

………………………………………

Shichiroji did search high and low for the yellow-haired samurai, did ask all the villagers about him, but without success. "Confound it, where IS he?" How was he supposed to pin down someone he could not find in the first place? He returned to Gisaku's hut, and slumped down onto the wall. "Confound that redhead…" He panted and caught his breath.

"What happened?" Gorobei asked him.

"I'm not sure anything has happened already, but for some reason Heihachi had me going up and down the village looking for…."

The man he was looking for had just appeared at the door of the hut, swaying slightly back and forth, with eyes staring at something. Just behind him was their youngest samurai.

"Well, fancy that…" Shichiroji sighed and slapped his forehead.

"Good afternoon," Katsushiro bowed before them. "Kyuzo-dono asked me the way down the cliff, and because I did not know…."

The rest of what the young man said was ignored. They were all looking at Kyuzo. Kyuzo walked straight past all the people into the hut and to a wall. He sat on the floor, and leaned his full weight on the wall.

As soon as he did so, he fell sideways to the floor with a thud.

Gorobei was nearest and got to him first. He found Kyuzo's eyes still wide open but unseeing. He shook him but got no response. "Why," the entertainer exclaimed with bulging eyes, "He's completely stoned!"

Shichiroji suddenly remembered what he had been told. "Get his coat off, Goro-san!"

Gorobei did not have to be told twice, and Kyuzo was eased out of the long coat. In doing so Gorobei and Kanbei found that he a small gash on the leg as well, still slightly open and with dried blood. The fact that Kyuzo had not asked for bandages from any of them only confirmed Gorobei's statement. They kindly shut his eyes and began dressing the wound.

Shichiroji quickly grabbed the coat, shook it, felt the inside and outside. Soon a small clink was heard. He reached out for the lamp and scanned the floor.

He found where the clink came from: a small dart with the needle still intact. He carefully took up the dart and showed it to Kanbei. Shichiroji stared at the small object, dumbfounded at how accurate the drawing was. "What is this, Kanbei-sama?"

"It's a special kind of dart, my friend," Kanbei replied. "It has a time-release mechanism. Regular but stronger doses of the toxin inside it are given out until it is empty." He glanced at its victim, already whiter than he normally was, breaking out in cold sweat. "We have to make the antidote for this quickly…."

He had not finished speaking when Kikuchiyo's booming voice sounded from just outside the hut. "OI! We have the plants, Momotaro!"

"Great timing! Get in here with that!" Shichiroji called out.

Kirara had also arrived at the scene. She immediately entered the hut, carrying a jug of water, a pot, and a ladle. She caught her breath, bowed to Kanbei, and gasped. "Kyuzo-sama!"

"Yes, dearie, Hei-san was right on the money," Shichiroji said. "Hurry and do what you have to do. Tell us how we can help you." He faced Kanbei. "Can we make it?"

The leader looked at the man on the bed carefully. "Yes, but only if we hurry. Find me that dart we got from the Shikimoribito."

"Ryoukai," and Shichiroji started looking through his partner's things. "Yare-yare, people have been ordering me around too much this afternoon!"

Katsushiro was ordered to go fetch the elder priestess. Kikuchiyo watched events from outside the hut. No more words were exchanged, besides quick orders between the Mikumari, Komachi, and Kanbei. Komachi tore up leaves as fast as she could with clenched teeth. Kirara ground up the leaves and squeezed out its juices, mixing these into a pot of water. Shichiroji found the medicine dart and handed it to Kanbei. Kirara ladled as much as she could of the medicine into the dart. Kanbei stuck the dart into their patient's forearm.

It was obvious after five minutes that the yellow-haired samurai was out of danger. Within ten minutes, the cold sweats stopped, the breathing normalized. He fell to deep, exhausted sleep.

Katsushiro soon returned with the elder priestess. They quickly explained the situation, and showed her the poison dart. She shook her head and tsked. "I thought they had stopped using this a long time ago. This is one of the most cruel ways to die a slow death. It is fortunate that it has a ready antidote, if given in time."

The elder observed the items and the process, and then complimented the girls on their work. To Kanbei she said, "The medicine made it just in time for him. He will live, and will be fine after a few days of rest. Continue giving the medicine every hour."

"Let me do it, Kanbei-sama," Kirara said with a bow. "I still owe him."

Kanbei agreed, and exited the hut with Gorobei and Shichiroji. All three gave a united sigh of relief.

They were met by the booming mechanical voice. "That's it? You're leaving?"

"Well, what else is left to do?" Gorobei answered him. "A crowd in a sick room won't help matters. Let's go have some dinner, aye?"

Kikuchiyo blew out a stream of steam. "I'll wait for the little kid. Oi, Momotaro, I didn't know the gearhead could tell the future, too."

Shichiroji kept silent.

………………………………………

The group was more subdued during dinner, but the conversation still flowed. They teased each other how they all had not noticed anything seriously wrong, but all had noticed how different their icy samurai was that day. The samurai laughed as Komachi told them how Kikuchiyo was more steam train than mecha samurai, running into the woods for the plants.

Only Shichiroji remained silent, painfully aware of two rice bowls that had not been claimed yet.

Kikuchiyo laughed heartily. "Well, today was very weird, wasn't it? Kyutaro delirious, our gearhead high-strung…."

"Speaking of the gearhead," Gorobei interrupted, "Where IS our woodchuck, anyhow?"

The assembled group suddenly grew quiet and looked around. Indeed, they had not heard any funny stories in a chirpy voice yet.

Shichiroji stood. "I'll look for him."

Kirara took up a handful of rice and quickly made a rice ball. She wrapped it in a leaf, then silently gave this to him with a bow, which Shichiroji returned. He took up his staff, and left the hut.

He had a good idea where the younger samurai could be found, and started walking there. He was glad that none of the others offered to come with him. He wanted to talk with Heihachi alone, to find out what made him react so much, what made him not insist, but force the people to do as he wanted.

As expected, Shichiroji found Heihachi lying on the hill, looking up at the stars.

"Hey."

"Shichi-san." He sat up and sighed. "Sorry about this afternoon."

"No big deal." Shichiroji sat beside him, and gave him the rice ball.

"Kyuzo-dono?"

"We made it. He'll be alright."

Heihachi sighed again. "Thank goodness."

A few moments of silence. A few birds and crickets chirped.

The blonde samurai tried to ask the question gently, nonchalantly. "Say, Hei-san, how did you know?"

Heihachi stood up and looked up at the night sky. He brought down his goggles over his eyes. "Something similar happened to a friend of mine, back in the war." Shichiroji noticed the glass of the goggles fog up. "I was too late."

Shichiroji looked up at the sky as well. "Well, you weren't too late today."

"Yeah, I guess."

The blonde man stood, and patted the smaller one on the shoulder. "Come on, Hei-san. We have a long day tomorrow."

Heihachi placed the goggles back over his pilot cap. "Yeah."

……………………………

The dare theme is: Kyuzo is pleasant for a day and the cast is freaked.

I figured there is only one plausible way for that to happen: the guy wasn't himself that day. The only way to get all seven people in one place is the portion before the first major Kanna attack. Thus it turned out like this. I am sorry it did not turn out as a crack fic. I liked the challenge of having all 7 guys in one story. It made me keep whacking my head as I was cramming for Orthopedics finals (because I was planning out the story instead of cramming! Study, damn you, STUDY!). I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading.


End file.
